Coming Home
by StarlitDreamer
Summary: Rachel and Kenna, Professors and roommates at Hogwarts about twenty years after the battle of Hogwarts. However, they also work as undercover Aurors, and though it's a secret that they hate to keep from their friends, it just might save everyone when evil strikes the magical world again. Main characters are OC, but many canon characters support or make appearances.
1. Of Skunks & Dragons

Author's Note: This story is dedicated to 'Rachel' and her love of Hogwarts and chocolate. ;)

* * *

" _Professor!_ "  
The panicked squeak had Kenna reaching for her wand even before she turned, which was fortunate as she was met with the sight of a wide-eyed boy facing a decidedly angry skunk. With a flick of her wrist, she turned it back into a feather duster just in time. There was an audible sigh of relief from all the students in his general vicinity and disappointed whispers of "what happened?" from those who had been focused on something else. She raised an eyebrow at the now-cowering first year in front of her, struggling to keep all amusement form her face and voice.  
"Will, how did you do that?"  
"Dunno, Professor."  
"You don't know what you said or how you moved your wand?"  
"No, Professor, just sort of happened and there was the skunk."  
Kenna nodded and ruffled his hair.  
"All right, Will. Please try something different this time. I don't want to smell for the rest of the day."  
Laughter sounded from the rest of the class and even Will gave her a weak grin. She smiled back before returning to help Meredith.

* * *

"Will?"  
He'd been hurrying to get out ahead of everyone else - no doubt to avoid precisely this situation - but, at Kenna's voice, he jumped and several quills clattered out of his bag while a roll of parchment bounced along the floor to her feet. Sighing lightly, she knelt to sweep them up and help him stuff them back in. Then she placed a hand on his shoulder until he looked at her.  
"Will. I know that you get frustrated with yourself when you do something that you didn't mean to, but you're very good at transfiguration - you just need to learn to work a bit backward."  
He wrinkled his nose in confusion as he looked up at her. "What d'you mean, work backward?"  
"I mean that you need to pay better attention to what you're doing so that when you have a skunk sat on your desk you can remember the steps that you took to make it get there. Most people learn spells to do something but you usually end up with the something first and just need to be able to learn the spell after. Does that make sense?"  
Slowly, he nodded, his face still screwed up in thought. Kenna smiled.  
"Do you have any questions?"  
"D'you know how I made the skunk?"  
"There are a few ways that you could have done it but I don't know exactly what you did."  
"What about the dragon that I made from my steam engine last week?"  
She couldn't keep her jaw from dropping.  
"You made a dragon?!"  
"Well only a _toy_ dragon, but it was bigger than her and it breathed steam just like a real one or I suppose like my engine."  
Kenna was feeling slightly lightheaded. 'What - where did you make that?"  
"In my dormitory."  
"What did you do with it?"  
His eyes widened and his lips pursed together, as if he'd just realized that perhaps he shouldn't be telling a professor this. Finally, however, he sighed.  
"Jonny Devereaux got rid of it."  
She made a mental note to speak with Jonny about not telling her when one of the first years made a dragon.  
"Well… I don't know how you did that either, Will. But maybe stop experimenting with transfiguration in your dormitory and try not to make any real dragons anywhere in the castle, all right? Probably best to stick to things that wouldn't eat you."  
He giggled and she grinned and ruffled his hair.  
"Go on now, you'll be late for your next class."  
"Yes Professor."

* * *

Peering into the Great Hall, Kenna looked along the row of teachers until she found Rachel's ginger hair. Today was one of the days when the last thing she wanted to do was sit at the head of the crowded hall with hundreds of people, but if she had her to talk to it wasn't as bad. And the hot meal would undoubtedly be better than the snacks hidden in her classroom and she felt even less like cooking. She ducked through the archway and dropped into the seat beside her closest friend at Hogwarts.  
"Hi."  
She looked up and grinned. "What did Will make today?"  
"A skunk. Which, compared to the _dragon_ that he apparently made in his dormitory, is fairly small news."  
"What?!"  
"Oh, don't worry, even though it was _bigger_ than him, it was only a _toy_ dragon and Jonny Devereaux 'got rid of it.' I guess you didn't hear anything."  
"I certainly did not."  
She narrowed her eyes at the black-haired seventh year in question at the Hufflepuff table. As if he felt her gaze, he glanced up and his grin faltered for a moment when he saw both of them looking at him. Rachel shook her head, but his goofy grin just widened and he held his hands up in an 'I don't know what I did' gesture before turning back to his friends. Rachel sighed. "I'll talk to him with you."  
"Great."  
Kenna sighed too and leaned back in her chair, trying not to groan.  
"I'm so sore."  
Rachel mimicked her, voice lowering.  
"Speaking of that -"  
"Don't say it."  
"he sent an owl."  
"Of course he did."  
Kenna huffed, trying to disguise the scowl from her face by taking a bite of the delicious meat pie in front of her. Rachel chuckled. "Come on, you love it."  
"I do love it. But we've had seven missions in the past twelve days and it's getting harder to focus."  
She pointed her fork at her friend, as if it were her fault. "I fell asleep on my desk today and if Marianne Pickworthy hadn't been early, I'm fairly certain that Ryan O'Learey would have 'let' me sleep through the entire fifth year double and taught for me."  
Rachel laughed and shook her head and they lapsed into silence. As Kenna ate, a small blonde head bobbing down one of the aisles caught her attention. Will clambered onto the bench between two of the other boys in his dormitory and immediately set about eating with gusto.  
"I'm going to need to give him private lessons."  
Rachel nodded, not even looking up from her food. "He's a bit - unpredictable."  
"Oh but he's so talented. I've never seen anyone with so much aptitude for transfiguration - ever. With just a bit of coaching I think he'd beat nearly every seventh year I've ever taught. I don't want him to get discouraged because he can't predict what's going to happen."  
Rachel grinned at the clear envy in Kenna's voice. "Don't tell that to your seventh years. But you're right. It would be a good investment of time."  
Kenna nodded decidedly. Now that she'd thought of it, she couldn't think why it was only just now occurring to her. As people finished eating, they trickled out gradually. Rachel was talking with Rupert - the Divination professor - who kept glancing over her shoulder at Kenna, a bit confused since they were usually the first out of the Hall after meals. But tonight she was wasting time, and Rachel knew it; although she was just as tired Kenna didn't feel too bad. Finally though, as Rupert said goodnight, she glanced over.  
"Ready?"  
Kenna nodded, waved to Rupert, and they made their way out the huge double doors and around the lawn to the little stone door in the base of the Ravenclaw tower. At a tap from Kenna's wand it clicked thoughtfully for a moment before swinging open. Wordlessly, they turned to their own rooms, exchanged school robes for nondescript black and books and parchment for small satchels, and stepped back into the common room at almost the same moment. Rachel tapped the door as it closed behind her and silently they slipped around the building until they could dart the short distance to the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Once nothing was visible behind them except trees, they stopped, listening intently for a moment. But there was nothing, so Kenna met her friend's eyes, excitement starting to overtake the annoyance and exhaustion.  
"Ready?"  
"I suppose."  
As she raised her arms, they became wings and suddenly there was a raven hovering where she'd stood. Kenna grinned; neither of them were quite used to being Animagi yet.  
"Very graceful."  
Rachel swept one wing to the side and dipped her head in an imitation of a bow in midair and Kenna chuckled as she dove forward, her hands hitting the ground as paws. She stretched and rolled her shoulders to readjust her bag before looking up. Rachel was looking at her from a branch above her head and Kenna knew what she was thinking - her light-coloured fur was as stealthy as they would have liked. She rolled her eyes and whipped her tail.  
 _Yes, I know. It's not like I chose it._  
She gave a laughing caw and raised her wings again, swooping into the night. Grinning, Kenna broke into a run, staying close beneath her as they plunged deeper into the forest.


	2. My Friend Now

"Do you think McGonagall knows?"  
Kenna needed to wait until Rachel's feathers vanished and her beak turned back into a mouth.  
"Of course she does; it's McGonagall."  
Kenna gritted her teeth as they turned on the spot and were overtaken by the sensation of being crushed. Apparating was amazingly useful but she hated it. When they reached the small alley, Rachel gave her a moment to breathe and, as some of the nausea wore away, Kenna congratulated herself on not throwing up this time.  
"I don't know if that makes me feel more or less comfortable."  
Rachel shrugged as they fell into step.  
"We could always -"  
She broke off, not wanting to say anything incriminating anywhere where they chanced being overheard, and Kenna sighed. "Yeah."  
It was a conversation they had at least twice every week, but they never came to a real conclusion. They hadn't registered, or even told anyone. And that wasn't an easy feat. Mandrake leaves tasted awful and weren't small, for one thing. But - as far as they knew - they hadn't been found out yet. They continued down several side streets, eyes open for anyone following them.  
"I wish we could meet with someone else. This guy doesn't like me."  
She gave a snort of laughter. "You really don't give him much of a chance. You could be less abrasive."  
"He's sticky and conniving. I don't like politicians."  
"So be the bigger person."  
Kenna scowled. "I don't know why you feel the need to be such a voice of reason."  
"Because you need one."  
This did make her laugh and, as they entered the building and handed over their bags to the security Wizards, she sighed deeply and grumbled.  
"Fine, I'll be nice."  
"Good."  
Making their way to the second floor, Kenna nodded to the man at a nondescript door. "Evening, Charles."  
He nodded curtly to her, smiled at Rachel, and turned on his heel to knock. Rachel gave her a dry look that clearly said she wasn't being nice enough and Kenna rolled her eyes as Charles gestured them through the door. Their supervisor in the Auror Department looked up from a plain desk spread with papers.  
"Ah yes, good, come in."  
"Good Evening, Sir."  
Rachel smiled and Kenna tried to as they took the two seats across from him. He steepled his fingers and looked at them in a way that Kenna really hated as he sighed.  
"I know that you didn't expect to be called in so soon again. I'm sure you're tired."  
Kenna opened her mouth, but Rachel swiftly kicked her under the table and she made her tone much more friendly than she would have otherwise.  
"Due respect, Sir, but I thought the purpose of having Aurors at Hogwarts was to have them actually spend time there. And that the purpose of having us undercover was so that no one knew that we were Aurors. I can guarantee that soon someone is going to notice that we go missing so often."  
He pursed his lips. "Be that as it may, your services are required elsewhere at the moment."  
Then he paused before sighing. "To be frank, we're at a loss of what to do. We've had several Aurors go missing in the past few weeks related to a sensitive case and several more have needed to take their places on the original mission while also trying to find them."  
Rachel and Kenna exchanged a look. It was rare for him to be so candid. Lines of worry had appeared on his face and, for the first time, Kenna felt a stab of sympathy for the weight on this man's shoulders.  
"Understood, Sir. How can we help?"  
He didn't quite manage to cover up his surprise and Kenna felt a twinge of guilt; clearly she was more abrasive than she'd realized. Recovering quickly, he nodded and handed across two sets of papers.  
"There's a shoppe in West End that we're suspicious may be hideout for a certain group of concern. I need you to spend as much time as you can for a few nights keeping an eye on it, noting any movement or suspicious activity. A room in the adjacent building has been acquired for your use this week - you'll find the details there. If you need the arrangement extended, let me know as you report and we will see to it. This is observation only - we don't want anyone to know that we are watching - so don't interfere in anything that you see going on."  
Kenna fought the urge to groan at the thought of _another_ stakeout as he paused again and considered them gravely.  
"You should know that you will likely be asked to spend part of your Christmas holiday on an extended assignment."  
Both felt their eyes widen in shock. They were low-level Aurors; only recruited because they had been hired at Hogwarts and had also shown interest in the Auror office. To send them on an extended assignment of such a high level showed how desperate they were.  
"Of course, if that's needed we'll be happy to."  
She nodded in agreement and he looked relieved.  
"Good. Very good. Thank you. Well take these then and I will be in touch if anything changes. Otherwise, keep me updated."  
They nodded and left him to his stack of papers. As they returned to the hallway, Kenna paused and cleared her throat, feeling unbearably awkward. "How have you been, Charles?"  
He looked at her with narrowed eyes for a moment before nodding. "I've been well. My daughter just started at Hogwarts and she likes it very much."  
"Oh, that's exciting. What's her name?"  
"Sadie."  
"Ah, yes! I know Sadie. She's very smart - the first class she was the only first year to correctly know the first rule of Transfiguration. Ravenclaw was my house too - I'm happy that she's enjoying it."  
He smiled - a genuine smile - and she felt herself return it.  
"Well, we should be going. Have a good evening, Charles."  
"And you, miss, miss."  
With a nod to each of they, he retreated back into the room and the two girls turned back down the hall. Kenna gave Rachel a questioning glance and she grinned. "See? Not so hard."

* * *

Kenna tossed her bag onto the table, surveying the tiny room with its meagre furnishings. "I'll watch first."  
"Okay."  
As she pulled the one chair in the room over to the window and peered out, she heard Rachel moving around, placing enchantments and taking stock of what they had.  
"We never come to London for fun anymore. We should sometime."  
Kenna chuckled. "We did used to come a lot more often. Remember that great little bookshop in Hampstead?"  
"I love Hampstead."  
"We'll go back next time we - have time."  
"So next year - maybe."  
"Yep."  
She left the room to brush her teeth and then curled up on the small cot that lined one wall.  
"Goodnight."  
"Sleep well, I'll wake you in a few hours."  
West End was busy all night, so there was no shortage of people to watch and, before Kenna knew it, an hour had passed. However, after another hour she was bored. She wasn't terribly good at stakeouts - not being a particularly patient person - which was unfortunate since these were their primary assignments. They were, after all, meant to be deeply undercover, which meant that even most of their fellow Aurors didn't know them. And since no one knew that they were Animagi, that meant that they were assigned to missions with the least chances of being seen by anyone. She sighed, beginning to list things to bring along the following night, which likely meant travelling by broomstick as they could only carry so much in their Animagi forms. Her mind turned to the endless question of whether or not they should register. Neither of them could really say exactly why they didn't want to except that if the point of being Animagi was to be able to pass unnoticed, why would they tell anyone what they looked like as Animagi? Still, breaking the law made both incredibly nervous and they were jumpy every time they used the spell. Kenna's mind spun around the problem at an increasingly furious rate until finally after two more hours, she needed to wake Rachel. Groggily, she sat up and rubbed her eyes before pulling herself from the cot.  
"Nothing."  
She nodded and moved to the chair as Kenna brushed her teeth and fell onto the cot herself. Although she was completely exhausted, she tossed and turned until she heard Rachel mutter something under her breath, and suddenly she felt calm and drifted into sleep.

* * *

Rachel shook Kenna awake what seemed to be only a few minutes later and she blinked up at her. "Wha's wrong?"  
"Nothing. It's time to go."  
Nodding stupidly, Kenna took her bag from her and gripped her friend's hand, knowing that she was in no state to direct her own apparation. This time when their feet hit the ground, she lurched to the side and retched. Stumbling back to where Rachel was perched on a branch, she made a much less graceful transformation than the night before and they headed into the forest. It was slow going; all Kenna could do was put one foot in front of the other and she saw Rachel dip two or three times. When they finally reached their door, they both wordlessly turned to their rooms. Staying awake while bathing was a struggle and Kenna needed to use every bit of self-restraint to keep herself from disregarding all of her obligations and burrowing into her bed. Instead, she dragged herself into the common room where Rachel already sat, gulping down tea. Grabbing the mug beside her, Kenna nodded her thanks and glared out at the lightening sky.  
"I want a time turner."  
Rachel didn't bother replying and we soon both fell asleep until a clock chime jolted us awake. Kenna's eyes kept glazing over through breakfast until finally she pulled out a vial of Invigoration Draught, surreptitiously dumping half into Rachel's goblet before emptying the rest into her own and draining it. Immediately, she felt fully awake, and watched out of the corner of her eye as Rachel took a drink, paused, then glared at her.  
"I told you not to do that."  
Kenna just shrugged and continued eating. Rachel glared for another moment, then finished off her goblet. Both hated taking potions to get through the day, but truthfully sometimes it was the only way that they could. The day inched past; although the invigoration draught made them more alert, their bodies were still exhausted and sore from running through the Forbidden Forest. When Kenna's spare arrived, she just stared for a few moments at a stack of parchment rolls that needed grading until the door of her classroom creaked open and she looked up to see Rachel.  
"Come on, let's go outside. We won't get anything done anyway."  
Kenna nodded and they slowly made their way to the courtyard where they sat soaking in the sun. Loud laughter drew their attention to another corner and Kenna chuckled as she saw Jonny Devereaux surrounded by half-a-dozen friends. Rachel groaned.  
"Whatever he's planning, I'd better not need to deal with it. I swear, his pranks are giving me grey hair."  
"Hey now, surely pranks aren't all bad."  
Both girls looked around and yelped in shock at the hideous creature behind them, cat's whiskers drooping from beneath its overly bulbous nose.  
"Teddy!"  
Quickly, the face shifted and settled into a grinning young man with bright turquoise hair. Laughing, Rachel hugged him and Kenna grinned as she saw Jonny's eyes go wide - he idolized Teddy Lupin. Teddy and Rachel had been sorted into Hufflepuff together and became fast friends almost the first week. Although Kenna had been in their year as well, and even had classes with them, she'd only known Teddy by reputation as the school prankster and hadn't met Rachel until a couple years after they left school. The fact that they were so close always made her laugh, as Rachel still told the stories of being unwittingly pulled into his pranks with an air of slight panic. He hugged Kenna too as Rachel shifted to make room between them.  
"What are you doing here?"  
He grinned and shrugged. "Came to visit my beloved school and my dear friends."  
But he'd coloured a bit and Kenna narrowed her eyes at him. "He's here to see Victoire Weasley."  
"Teddy, there had better be a better reason than that. You know that she's got exams all next week."  
"Well, I'm here to encourage her."  
Rachel crossed her arms and Kenna frowned at him. "You're _going_ to distract her. Teddy, you know that she's stressed about this year and her NEWTs. And you're not exactly someone who's going to help her study."  
"I know, I know." He held up his hands defensively. "I'm only here for the afternoon, I promise. Anyway, Uncle Harry needed something delivered to the Headmistress."  
"All right then."  
He chuckled and knocked Rachel's shoulder with his. "You're such a professor."  
"You say that like it's a bad thing!"  
"Well, maybe not _bad_ , but you must admit that it's a bit of a blow to my pride for my best friend to go on to be a straight-laced, by-the-rules professor. I mean, you assign _homework_ and tell people off for being out of bed."  
Kenna grinned at his exasperation and closed her eyes to soak in the sun, their familiar bickering comforting.  
"I lived by the rules when we were at Hogwarts too."  
"Still, why couldn't you have gone on to do something _exciting_? Just think, if you'd taken Uncle Harry up on his offer you could have been an Auror - enforce the rules but in a much more interesting way."  
Kenna's eyes snapped opened again in time to see Rachel's grin freeze and her eyes flick to meet hers. She hated not being able to tell Teddy the truth.  
"Hey, be careful Teddy. If she'd worked for the Auror office, I wouldn't have met her. And I rather like having her around."  
Teddy turned to Kenna, eyes narrowed. "Well, she was my friend first."  
She grinned cheekily. "My friend now."  
Rachel recovered and chuckled. "As much as I love being fought over, we'd better go - our spare's almost over. Are you eating lunch with Victoire?"  
"They probably won't be eating."  
Teddy glared at Kenna. "Yes, I'm _eating_ with Victoire. Want to have dinner in Hogsmede?"  
"Sure, but it'll need to be quick because I have a lot to grade tonight."  
"I'll need to get back quickly anyway. Kenna, I suppose you can come too."  
Hopping off the wall where they were perched, Kenna grinned at him. "I was going to whether you asked me or not."  
He snorted and stood, kissing Rachel's cheek as he did so. She glared at him. "Behave."  
With one more mischievous grin, he walked off, shouting back over his shoulder. "I always behave."  
Rachel groaned as she watched him leave and Kenna couldn't help laughing; she looked incredibly torn, even rocking back and forth on her toes like she was debating running after him and following him all day just in case he tried something.  
"Classes, Rachel. You need to teach them."  
She nodded and gathered up her bag, but still watched with narrowed eyes until he disappeared. Still laughing, Kenna pulled her away.

* * *

Dinner was a welcome break from the stress of the past couple of weeks. Teddy had an easy-going attitude that made everyone love him and his stories had them all laughing until they cried. Coupled with the girls' stories about Will and Jonny and a few other students, the evening passed merrily until the clock over the bar chimed 20.00, surprising all of them.  
"I ought to go. I'm leaving tomorrow on a mission."  
Kenna's stomach sank and fear flitted over Rachel's face; Teddy worked for the Auror Office as well. "What? Where are you going?"  
"You know I can't tell you that."  
Rachel frowned. "I know."  
They all stood and made their way outside. Once they'd walked until there was no one around, Teddy glanced behind, then stopped and grabbed Rachel's arm.  
"Rachel, watch out for her. She's worried."  
Rachel met his eyes. "Is she right to be?"  
"You know that I -"  
"Teddy. Should your friends be worried?"  
Rachel - normally so easygoing and softspoken - sounded steely, and Teddy's eyes widened a bit in surprise. For a moment, he just stared at her, then slowly nodded. "Probably."  
Kenna swallowed, her heart sinking through the floor, and Rachel looked at her for a long moment before turning back to him.  
"You can't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you - swear to me."  
"I swear."  
"We're Aurors, undercover so no one knows and no one can know that you do. But we know some of what's going on and I swear that if something happens, we will come and find you."  
Teddy blinked several times before his eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, you're Aurors?"  
"The Ministry wanted Aurors undercover at Hogwarts - just in case. We're spending our nights on stakeout right now."  
Suddenly, relief washed over his face and he gave a huge sigh. "That's great. I'm so happy to hear that."  
She pulled him into a hug and they clung tightly to one another for a moment before she pulled back and met his eyes again. "Be smart. If anything goes wrong, try your best to get a message to us and we'll come and get you."  
He nodded, then pulled Kenna into a tight hug as she tried not to cry. "Stay safe, Teddy."  
"I will. You two take care of yourselves too."  
Kenna pulled back and nodded, not trusting her voice. Then, with one last grin, he turned on the spot and disappeared with a crack. Rachel's hand gripped Kenna's tightly, and they stood for a moment staring at the spot where he'd been.


	3. He'll Be Just Fine

Rachel didn't wake her. As soon as Kenna's eyes opened, she knew that she'd slept longer than she ought, and she pushed herself up to check the time.  
"Rachel!"  
She was - remarkably - still awake and staring out the window, but didn't respond until Kenna shook her shoulder. Frowning, she blinked up at her owlishly, and Kenna sighed as she knelt down in front of her; she shouldn't have let her take the first watch.  
"You should have woken me at least two hours ago."  
Her shoulders twitched in what may have been a shrug and Kenna took her hand, frowning.  
"You're freezing."  
Again, the barest movement of her head that may have been a nod. But she didn't move otherwise, so Kenna gently pulled her to her feet and helped her to the cot, tucking the blanket around her before draping her cloak over her as well. Her eyes were already closed and Kenna sighed. They were already stretched thin, and Teddy's news made everything worse. Kenna would likely be distracted, but he meant much more to Rachel and Kenna knew that she was in danger of losing all her focus to worry until Teddy came back safely. _If_ Teddy came back safely. Settling down to watch, she tried to not dwell on her anxiety. He _would_ come back safely. And if he didn't, they'd figure out their next step then. Again, she saw nothing suspicious, nothing even to hint that the building was being used. Writing a brief report to that end, she dropped the enchantments around the room before shaking Rachel.  
"Come on, time to go."  
She let Kenna pull her up and gripped her arm as they closed their eyes. Their feet touched the Forest floor and Kenna caught Rachel as she stumbled, forcing back her nausea.  
"Ride on my shoulder today."  
"What? No, I can -"  
"You let me sleep twice as long as you should have. You need to rest on the way back or you won't be able to do anything today even with a potion."  
Wearily, she nodded, and fluttered to Kenna's shoulder when they'd shifted, wrapping her talons around the strap of her bag. Travelling this way was much more difficult than Kenna had anticipated, making their progress much slower and bringing them to the edge of the Forest as the sky was lightening. Rolling her shoulders, Kenna gave a soft yelp and Rachel fluttered back to the ground. As they darted across the lawn, Kenna peered up; all it would take was one Ravenclaw looking out their dormitory window at the wrong moment and suddenly the entire school would know about the two shadowy figures roaming the grounds at night. But, as far as she could see, they reached their door without being spotted. Quickly, both prepared for the day, and stopped by the Owlry on their way to breakfast to send a small, indistinct owl to the Auror Office.

* * *

Again, the day stretched out, although Rachel couldn't seem to get as much grading done between classes or during her spare as she wanted. When her NEWT students arrived, she saw that Victoire's eyes were puffy, as if she'd been crying or hadn't slept well. Or both. As they set about their exercise for the day, Rachel paused to lay a hand on her shoulder. She took a shuddering breath before covering Rachel's hand with her own and returning her smile. Rachel nodded and squeezed her hand before continuing on. But after that she did look slightly less drawn, as if she wasn't feeling quite so alone. As the rest of the class filed out, she approached.  
"Professor?"  
"How are you doing, Victoire?"  
Taking a deep breath, she clasped her hands in front of her. "Did - did Teddy tell you anything? About his mission, I mean."  
"He didn't. I suspect that he told you as much as he did us."  
She nodded, face a mixture of worry and relief. Rachel tried to put as much confidence into her voice as she could manage. "Victoire, he's going to be just fine. He's smart and he'll be careful, knowing that you're waiting for him."  
Blinking away tears, she nodded again, and Rachel impulsively stepped forward to wrap her arms around her. For a moment, Victoire clung tight to her, then pulled away and gave her a watery smile.  
"He'll be just fine. Thank you, Professor."  
"Victoire, if you need anything, we're always here."  
"Thank you, Professor."

* * *

"No, you can't do that!"  
 _Boom._  
Kenna winced, turning slowly to see smoke rising from a charred mark on the desk between two first years. Sighing, she raised her eyebrows, and the scowling girl pointed an accusatory finger at the stunned-looking boy beside her.  
"I _told_ him, Professor!"  
"Albus, what did you do?"  
"I just was following the instructions, Professor."  
"Obviously not, or it wouldn't have exploded!"  
Kenna held a hand out, trying to keep a straight face as she so often found herself doing with the first years. "It's all right, Rose, I'll handle this. Albus, there is a reason that I told you to follow the instructions closely and carefully. Now, are you both all right?"  
"Yes, Professor."  
"All right, then Albus you may get another feather and you may try it again."  
Scowling as much as his cousin now, Albus shuffled to the centre table for another feather. But it was hopeless - the pair of them bickered in low voices until Rose's voice rose again.  
"Rose, I'd like you to please swap seats with Jenny."  
Both froze, eyes wide. For a moment, Rose just stared at me, then frantically gathered up her things and moved to slowly drop into the seat beside Scorpius. He narrowed his eyes and Kenna saw her jaw tighten. Still, they worked quietly together - saying as few words as possible - and the rest of the class passed without incident. When it ended, Rose was the first out the door, followed closely by Scorpius, and they veered in opposite directions as soon as they reached the corridor. When everyone had gone, Kenna groaned and rubbed her eyes. When she'd been at Hogwarts, Teddy was the only member of the Potter-Weasley clan there yet, but it had almost begun to overtake the school now. The Gryffindor Quiddich team had been nicknamed the Potter-Weasley Quiddich team, but they'd also spread out to other houses and did seem to be everywhere. The new year had brought Albus and Rose and - as an added bonus - Scorpius Malfoy. The animosity between them was not exactly surprising but made her sad to see, especially knowing that it was because of old prejudices at home. As she inspected the scorched desk and repaired it, she mulled it over. Perhaps the best thing to do was keep pairing them on assignments. They worked fairly efficiently and - as far as she could tell so far - they were fairly evenly matched in their academic potential. Gathering her things, she made her way to Rachel's room. She glanced up as the door opened and Kenna gave her a tired grin.  
"Will make anything unexpected today?"  
"No, Will was actually fairly controlled. Albus Potter blew up a feather though."  
She chuckled. "I'll bet Rose handled that well."  
"Not at all. But I paired her with Scorpius and then she settled down. I think I'm going to start pairing them together all the time."  
"Mmm, good idea."  
The door swung open and Rachel looked up, laying down her quill as Jonny Devereaux sauntered in. "Professors."  
Rachel crossed her arms and Kenna frowned at his innocent smile. "Jonny, I've heard from a certain source that you assisted in the removal of a dragon from the Hufflepuff dormitory. Is this true?"  
"Yes, Professor. Didn't think we needed more pets what with the six in that room already."  
Kenna huffed in exasperation. "Jonny! You need to _tell us_ when something like that happens, not just deal with it and say nothing. What if we hadn't found out and next time it was something dangerous that hurt those kids? You're a seventh year, Jonny; you're responsible for the younger kids."  
His smirk had lost a bit of its edge. "Professor, it's not like I'm Head Boy or anything."  
"That's a pitiful excuse, Jonny. You're capable of more."  
Rachel's quiet voice conveyed disappointment better than Kenna's did, and finally the rest of the smirk fell from his face. His head bowed.  
"I'm sorry, Professor."  
Rachel sighed and nodded and Kenna was able to let a bit of her curiosity come through. "Jonny, do you know exactly what he did?"  
"No, Professor. It was the strangest-looking thing I've seen though, made all of metal just like the little steam engine it came from."  
"How did you get rid of it?"  
"Grabbed his wand and did the reversal spell you taught us back in third year. It was big - took up most of the room - an' I didn't really think about it. What with the little boys yelling I just did what first came to mind."  
She sighed; she needed to have a better idea of what Will kept doing to affect his dramatic transfigurations. Rachel nodded. "Thank you, Jonny, you may go. Next time though, we expect to hear about this from you - as soon as possible after it happens."  
He nodded, almost bowing, and left. Kenna growled a bit and thumped a fist on Rachel's desk. "I want to be able to spend the time and energy actually investing in my students."  
She said nothing; there was nothing to say. Their jobs were at odds, but equally important, even if it didn't usually feel like they were actually doing anything sitting on stakeout. Kenna shook her head and shouldered her bag again.  
"You ready?"  
"Yep."  
They skipped dinner that night, going straight to their rooms. They shouldn't have, considering they'd skipped the night before in favour of Hogsmede with Teddy, but they needed a few hours to decompress and gather what they needed for the night. Shutting herself in her room was a relief, and Kenna wasted an hour or so cleaning - the first time in several days that she'd spent more than five minutes even looking at it. Then she repacked her bag, bringing food, an extra blanket, the rest of her third year assignments needing grading, and her music player and earphones. It was a decidedly Muggle contraption that remained in her room except on stakeouts. In fact, Rachel and Kenna - both Muggle-borns - had quite the stash of Muggle devices squirreled away in their rooms. Of course, they didn't work at Hogwarts, but they would as soon as they left the grounds and they were invaluable on the long nights awake away from school. Finally, a knock sounded on her door and Rachel stuck her head in.  
"We should go."  
Kenna nodded and shouldered her bag. "Okay, I'm ready."


	4. Ruby

Rachel knelt to tighten the straps of their pack around Kenna's body. "That all right?"  
She rolled her shoulders and yelped, swishing her tail, which made Rachel chuckle. "Okay, good."  
She transformed too and they set back off toward Hogwarts. Despite the heavier load, Kenna pushed herself harder than normal. She was tired, but frustrated that they'd been watching for several nights and had nothing to show for it. The Aurors who watched from that room during the day hadn't spotted anything either, but their instructions were still the same: keep watching, report anything suspicious. They'd begun writing down even the smallest things, hoping that perhaps whoever was reviewing the reports would see something they'd somehow missed. Their bodies were becoming used to the cycle of little sleep and strenuous exercise and Kenna even felt less sick after apparating now. But they were both wearing thin. In addition to seeing nothing on stakeouts, they'd heard nothing from Teddy since he'd left a week back. Dark and depressing thoughts swirled through Kenna's head, the same ones her anxious mind had hatched during her watch - visions of Teddy being captured, tortured, killed - and she growled a bit as she forced herself to go even faster. She was so focussed on running that she nearly shot out from the trees before realizing they'd come to the edge of the wood, and she tumbled in a heap when she tried to stop. Rachel waited until Kenna had pushed herself to her feet before detaching the pack straps and stepping away so that Kenna could return to her human form. This time as she glanced up at the windows of Ravenclaw Tower, she found herself almost wishing that she did spot a face, that someone did see them. Then perhaps they'd be told to lay low for a while, focus on their duties at Hogwarts, rest and prepare for when they were needed again. Kenna fell asleep twice standing up as she bathed and, when she finally reached the common room again, took one look at Rachel and her heart sank. Shaking her head, she frowned as she dashed away tears and Kenna sighed as she hugged her. They were spiralling, they knew, and the way it was going, it would get worse before getting better. When they got too tired, Rachel got sad and Kenna got irritable - although fortunately never with Rachel. Kenna stood, grunting as she saw the pile that had collected in front of the cabinet that she needed to get into.  
"We really need time to clean."  
Rachel gave a watery laugh, watching as Kenna used a broken racing broom to sweep several sets of Quiddich robes out of the way.  
"I also really need to get these repaired."  
After rooting around for a moment, she pulled out the stash of candy in the back and dropped a chocolate frog into Rachel's lap as she curled up next to her again. Rachel sighed and took a bite as Kenna unwrapped a peppermint quill and stuck it in her mouth. She pulled out her card.  
"Sawbridge."  
She handed it to Kenna, who read it - even though she'd read it many times, it was still her favourite. "I'm closing the gap."  
Rachel's favourite chocolate frog card was Paracelsus, and they had a running tally. Kenna was losing quite spectacularly - in good part because she found eating the frogs disconcerting and so never bought them except for Rachel. Both smiled without much enthusiasm, but continued eating their candy.  
"I just want to sleep in my own bed."  
Kenna gave a frustrated sigh, knowing that complaining wasn't helpful for either of them, but unable to help herself. Rachel just nodded and lay her head on Kenna's shoulder as they waited for the sun to rise. The candy did help, and breakfast helped even more, but one look at Victoire's face had Kenna reaching for an Invigoration Draught and Rachel nudging her goblet closer too.

* * *

Kenna stuck the new Sawbridge card to her classroom wall beside the others as the Ravenclaw and Slytherin second years filed in. Turning, she found Gregory Reydon watching her. After a second more of studying her, he leaned forward. "My favourite is Alberic Grunnion."  
She wrinkled her nose. "Of course he is."  
"Mine is Archibald Alderton!"  
Nodding at his seatmate, Charlotte, she couldn't help chuckling. "And that fits too."  
They gave matching grins and she chuckled again, feeling some of her frustration melt away at their cheeky faces. But, as the class wore on, their antics became less amusing until Gregory, who kept getting out of his seat to interfere with the table next to him, finally snapped Kenna's last strand of patience.  
"Gregory, stop that and sit still!"  
He froze, his eyes wide and suspiciously shiny. She felt her heart sink into her toes and she immediately sank to her knees in front of his desk. "Gregory, I am so sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you. Please forgive me."  
Although he nodded, he ducked his head and didn't look at her. She sighed and felt tears burn at the backs of her own eyes. Standing, Kenna looked around at the rest of the students, ashamed at how many looked away hurriedly. She cleared her throat.  
"Class, I'm sorry that I am not in a good mood today. I have a friend who I'm worried about and it's making me anxious, but I should never take that out on any of you."  
Glancing down again, she found Gregory watching her, and he didn't look away this time.  
"I'm very sorry, Gregory."  
His grin was back and he even reached up to pat her arm comfortingly. "I forgive you, Professor. Sometimes I get worried about my sister when she's sick and it makes me be not very nice either. I hope your friend will be okay."  
Now tears really did come to Kenna's eyes, and she did her best to smile cheerfully at him. "Thank you, Gregory. On you go now, try again."

* * *

As the day wore on, it was increasingly hard to keep from snapping at any more students, particularly when she caught a fifth year about to eat a Puking Pastille. As Rachel and Kenna prepared to leave yet again, Kenna scowled at her bed for a minute before grabbing another blanket. It wasn't at all practical as it was big and fluffy, but it was warm and comfortable and she was very cross. Rachel looked at her when she walked out and nodded. "We should take brooms."  
"Yeah, that may be a good idea."  
As she grabbed them, a frantic knock sounded and both froze for a moment before dropping their packs, scrambling for their dressing gowns and throwing them over their clothes. Cautiously, Kenna pulled the door open to find a frantic Victoire.  
"Professor! Something's wrong, I know it. Teddy - he - something's wrong, Professor!"  
Immediately, Kenna felt her heart sink and she pulled Victoire inside and to the sofa. Rachel gripped her shoulder. "What do you mean, Victoire? How do you know?"  
She took a shaking breath and shook her head. "I just know. Please, Professor, he needs help!"  
But Kenna noticed how tightly she clutched the pendant hanging around her neck and she reached out to pry the long chain from her fingers.  
"Victoire, did he give you this? What does it do?"  
Kenna inspected the small disc as she began to sob; the metal was clearly worn from Victoire's anxious rubbing, but small letters still clearly stood out: _Ruby_.  
"Victoire, what is this?"  
Swallowing, she made a valiant effort to calm herself. "He enchanted it. When he's safe it says _Evergreen_ , if he's in trouble it says _Ruby_. He got it from some Muggle film. It just changed, only a few minutes ago, and I ran straight here."  
Frantic with stress, Kenna dropped the disc and gripped her head in her hands.  
"Oh this thing breaks so many rules."  
Rachel snorted, shaking her head.  
"You are ridiculous."  
Victoire looked at both of them as if she wasn't sure that coming had been the right thing, so Kenna dropped her hands and straightened her shoulders. Oddly, she suddenly felt calm, probably because all her nervous energy from eventless stakeouts finally had something tangible to focus on.  
"It's all right, Victoire. We'll find out what happened to him. But do you know what enchantment he put on this? The more information we have, the quicker we'll be able to track him."  
"He has one too and when he changes the word on his it changes on mine too. My uncles, you should talk to them. They might not know about Teddy yet and they'll be able to help."  
"That's a good idea, we'll do that."  
Privately, Rachel guessed that the Auror Office was keeping as close of tabs as it could on Teddy, particularly Victoire's uncles, as he was Harry Potter's Godson and as much a part of the family as any of the Potter and Weasley cousins.  
"Victoire, you should go back to your dormitory. If your pendant changes again, go to the Owlry and send Archimedes and Hamlet with notes telling us what it says - they'll be able to find us. If we aren't at breakfast, tell Professor McGonagall what's happened."  
She nodded, blinking back tears, then gripped both of their hands fiercely. "Thank you, thank you so much."  
They both hugged her, then she left and they quickly repacked before grabbing their brooms. They locked the door, then kicked off, not caring tonight if they were spotted or not. As they sped low over the tops of the trees, Rachel clamped down on her panic - she could only help Teddy if she stayed focused. Landing in a skid, they levitated their brooms into a tree and Kenna gripped Rachel's hand tight for a moment and Rachel nodded before releasing it and apparating. Lurching out of the sickening spin, Kenna didn't give herself time to recover before jogging down the alleyway. Rachel would go to the Potters', since she actually knew them. Which left her, unfortunately, with this task. She walked as quickly as she could without feeling like she was drawing attention to herself until she entered the building - then she ran.  
"Charles, I need to see him."  
Charles studied her, worry leaking into his expression, before nodding and knocking at the door. After a few words, he pushed it open wider and nodded her in. She nodded her thanks before ducking in. As he glanced up, Kenna was shocked at the transformation. It couldn't have been only two weeks since she'd seen this man. He was crumpled, like a wad of paper when a writer can't find the right words. There was definitely more grey hair than there had been before and the shadows under his eyes made him look as if someone had punched him. He even had a pair of spectacles perched on his nose, and he didn't even attempt a smile as she entered the room.  
"Ms. Scott. I wasn't expecting you tonight."  
She nodded and hesitated for only a second before deciding to just take the chance.  
"Sir, I'm concerned about Teddy Lupin."  
Something flitted across his face before he set down his quill and studied her over the tops of his spectacles. "Why?"  
"Sir, his girlfriend is a student at Hogwarts. She - he gave her a charmed pendant that's warned her he's in trouble. I know that it isn't much to go on but - have you heard from him, Sir?"  
The man gave a deep sigh. "You know I can't tell you that."  
"Yes, I know. But -" She let out a frustrated breath. "Sir, I don't doubt your reasons. But we've been watching that place for two weeks and haven't seen anything. And we're reaching a point where neither of us is going to be of any use. Surely - there must be something we can do that's -"  
"More useful. Of course, yes that makes sense. Perhaps it would be more effective to install surveillance. We've just been worried about something happening and no one being there to respond."  
"You told us we were to observe only."  
With a wry smile, he raised an eyebrow at her. "I recall telling you that several times and being ignored. I trust your judgement to intervene when needed or I wouldn't send you on the missions that I do."  
She couldn't help her smile and she felt a stab of guilt for underestimating him. Clearly he was more than just the opportunistic strategist she'd thought him to be. He nodded. "Very well, spend this one last night watching. Just in the event that -"  
He trailed off without meeting her eyes. But she knew what he meant: in the event that Teddy's captors would turn up. She nodded and stood, but paused and turned as she reached the door, clearing her throat.  
"Sir, please forgive me."  
He held her eyes for a long moment and, for the first time, she felt as if they understood one another. "So long as you do the same."  
Smiling, she inclined her head as she reached for the handle. "Sir."

* * *

Author's Note: Ten points to whoever knows the _Evergreen/Ruby_ reference!


	5. A Long Night

Rachel rushed up the front stairs as they appeared beneath her feet, not pausing to think before knocking on the door. It was a long moment before she heard shuffling, then a thump and a grunt. Then the door creaked open, revealing a disgruntled house elf. To be fair, Rachel thought, this particular house elf always looked disgruntled.  
"Hello, Kreacher. You may not remember me, but I'm a friend of Teddy's."  
"Ms. Turner."  
He gave a small bow before looking up at her again, nodding. "Kreacher does remember you. He likes you much better than Master 'Teddy' the troublesome one."  
Despite herself, Rachel laughed, and Kreacher's eyes narrowed curiously. "What brings you here?"  
"Is Mr. Potter here?"  
"Yes, the master is here. Come in."  
"Thank you, Kreacher."  
Rachel waited nervously as the elf slowly shuffled into the kitchen and, after a low mumble of voices, Harry Potter appeared around the corner, frown deepening as he saw her worried expression.  
"Mr. Potter, I -"  
She froze as something moved upstairs. But she relaxed slightly when it proved to just be a small head peeked over the upstairs landing. Following her eyes, he sighed. "Lily, get back in bed please."  
Little feet scampered and a door slammed, and Mr. Potter looked back at Rachel, clearly concerned. "Rachel, why don't you come into the kitchen."  
She followed him, nervously twisting a ring on her hand, to where Ginny Potter was frosting a cake.  
"Rachel! How are you?"  
"Hi, Mrs. Potter. I'm - I'm all right."  
Mr. Potter stood studying her, arms crossed. "Rachel, what's wrong?"  
"Teddy - something's happened. Victoire has a pendant charmed to show when he's in trouble and it says he is and I don't know what he did to it but I know that he went off on a mission and that it was dangerous and we haven't heard anything - please tell me that you have."  
She said it all in a rush as she felt tears burning her eyes again - she really hated how easily she cried when she got tired - and then waited, nails digging into her palms. The Potters exchanged a look before Mr. Potter gently took her arms and sat her in a chair, kneeling in front of her.  
"Start from the beginning."  
Nodding, Rachel took a breath. "Teddy, he visited a couple weeks back to see Victoire and he told me to watch out for her. I asked if we should be worried about him and he said probably. Then tonight, Victoire came to our rooms and showed us a pendant that he gave her and said Teddy enchanted it to say one word when he's all right and another when he's in trouble and it changed tonight to the word for when he's in trouble. And Sir, I know that he's on a mission and I can't find out but I was hoping that you _could_ , you see, because I'm worried and even _he_ looked worried and you know as well as I do that for him that's rare and -"  
He shook her shoulders gently, cutting off her anxious rambling. "Rachel, slow down. When did the pendant change?"  
"About an hour ago now. We left straight away."  
"We?"  
Kate froze, mind blanking on what to say until she managed to stammer out: "My roommate, Kenna, she's the Transfiguration professor. She's friends with Teddy too."  
"So where is she?"  
"She went to talk to someone else who might know about Teddy."  
"Who?"  
Rachel swallowed as she began to feel panicked. Mr. Potter leaned slightly closer, but his voice was gentle. "Rachel, I need to know where she went, who she's telling all of this to. Not only does Teddy's safety and your roommate's depend on it, but yours and even Victoire's. You need to tell me."  
"She - we're - she went -"  
But Rachel's voice froze and she was unable to continue. Mrs. Potter pushed a teacup into her hands and then guided her to take a drink. As the warm liquid ran down her throat, Rachel felt better, and she took a deep breath before meeting Mr. Potter's eyes. Surely, he of anyone was safe to tell.  
"She went to Auror Malfoy."  
Mr. Potter relaxed visibly. "Good, that's good, probably the best person to go to, in fact. But wait, how did she know to - he's not -"  
Realization dawned on his face. "Ah. So you work for him then."  
Rachel nodded, biting her lip hard to keep from crying. Mr. Potter nodded, squeezing her hands. "I didn't know he'd gone through with that. Good, you did the right thing. I'll go -"  
A strange hissing from the hearth brought his head snapping around.  
"Harry."  
He scrambled to his feet and none-too-gracefully dropped back to his knees in front of the fire. "Draco, good. I was just about to call."  
"Is Rachel there?"  
"Yes, she's here. Draco, have you heard anything?"  
Mrs. Potter had pulled Rachel to her feet and given her a small shove toward the fireplace, where she now saw Mr. Malfoy's face suspended in the flames. He looked toward her and nodded. "Ms. Turner, she's gone back to the stakeout - I suggested we cover it one more night. Then you're both to rest up before the holidays in preparation for what we discussed."  
Rachel nodded eagerly, happy for the prospect of something active to do. "I'll go join her."  
She turned, paused, then completed the full circle. "Sir, I'm sorry."  
He shook his head. "No need to be sorry. Harry knowing is more helpful than harmful. And Ginny."  
The last bit was said with a roll of his eyes and Mrs. Potter chuckled before leading Rachel back out. "Hello, Draco. Come, dear. I've packed some food for you and Kenna - you stay warm tonight. I'll make sure that Harry or Draco let you know if they learn anything."  
"Thank you, Mrs. Potter."  
"You know that you can call us Harry and Ginny, Rachel."  
Laughing at the discomfort on Rachel's face, she pulled her into a tight hug before handing over a sack which smelled wonderful. Rachel glimpsed a bat-like ear sticking around a doorpost and impulsively stuck her head around it and knelt to give Kreacher a hug. "Have a good night, Kreacher."  
Rachel could have sworn he smiled, but he managed to cover it by swatting her hands away - gently though. "Bah, you're wrinkling my shirt."  
"It's a lovely shirt, you look very fine."  
And he did, right down to the cravat and long gold chain tucked into his collar. He bowed, even lower than he had earlier. "Goodnight, Ms. Turner."  
With one last hug from Mrs. Potter, Rachel left, apparating from the top step straight into the little flat where her roommate stood, tense, wand aimed at the spot where Rachel appeared. Kenna gave a sigh of relief and proceeded to set up the protective enchantments.  
"I didn't know if you'd come."  
"Mr. Malfoy used their fireplace and told me where you went. Mrs. Potter sent food."  
Pulling the cot to the window, she sat on it, dumping out the food, and Kenna rubbed her hands as she pulled the chair closer. "Excellent. It's been a long night."  
Rachel nodded and they lapsed into silence as they ate and watched the building across from them, knowing that neither of them were going to get any sleep tonight and, with a full night's sleep in sight, there was no point in even trying.

* * *

"He's dead, isn't he?!"  
Victoire had barely let them through the door before she burst into tears and both hurriedly wrapped their arms around her.  
"We don't know, Victoire. But your uncle Harry is checking; he's working with the Auror office to find him."  
She sobbed hard, face buried in Rachel's shoulder, and tears dripped down the faces of the other two. Finally, she pulled away, wiping her eyes and attempting to stop the hiccups that had begun. The girl clearly hadn't slept at all and her face was drawn and pale. Rachel frowned and took her hands. "Victoire, take the day off of classes. Go visit your aunte Ginny. You can go to Hogsmede and apparate from there."  
Victoire nodded, blinking rapidly as she wiped away the tears. "Yeah, that's a good idea."  
Kenna squeezed her shoulder. "We'll tell the Headmistress."  
"Stay away for a couple days. You'll be able to stay more updated there anyway."  
"Thank you, Professors."  
"We'll find him, Victoire."  
She nodded again. "Okay."  
Leaving Victoire to collect her emotions and what she needed for her trip, the two women paused to wipe away the traces of tears before climbing back out the entrance of the Gryffindor common room. The rest of the day was long and passed in a blur until finally, after a long dinner - which they both just picked at anyway - Kenna stood, just staring at her bed, tears actually pooling in her eyes. As worried as she was about Teddy and the rest of the Wizarding World, there was room for nothing in her mind right now except for a full night's sleep in her own bed. Rolling her eyes, she dashed the tears away and, almost reverently, lay down. More tears rolled down her cheeks but, before she could even brush them away, she was asleep.


	6. Enjoy it for Today

Waking was like trudging through thick mud, and she needed to try several times to focus on the clock. She'd slept for nearly twelve hours, but she still felt exhausted. Where was she? And what was her name again? Groaning, she pulled herself up and stumbled into the common room, actually managing to walk into a wall. Rachel sat blearily at the table, gulping down tea. Kenna poured her own mug and dropped into a chair. They sat silently for long minutes.  
"I am too old to stay up all night - I'm going to feel it for days. I can't believe I did that so many times in school."  
Rachel nodded numbly, before looking at her roommate. "You may as well get it out now."  
"You're _asking_ for a potion?"  
"Well, you're going to give it to me anyway, may as well not spike our drinks in the Great Hall."  
"You make it sound like a drug."  
"Kind of is."  
"Yeah, yeah. Here."  
Both sipped their tea slowly, cradling the mugs in their hands. After several more silent moments, Rachel groaned as she stood.  
"I'm so sore."  
"On the bright side," Kenna drained her mug and followed suit, "we're all muscle now from all the running around."  
Rachel snorted. "And the double load of sweets we've been eating."  
"Okay, well then maybe not _all_ muscle then."  
Rachel laughed as she retreated to her room. Kenna cleaned the kitchen, then the common room, until the chime of the clock startled her and she needed to rush to get ready for the day. When she finally tumbled back into the common room, she looked around until she spotted her friend's legs sticking out of a cabinet.  
"C'mon Rachel, we've got to leave."  
"Rach, Rach, can't be late."  
Kenna barely heard the muttered words as her friend rummaged around, but her stomach flipped all the same. Teddy had chanted that all the time. He cared very little about being on time, and loved ribbing Rachel about how it made her panic when she wasn't. The added bonus was that it annoyed her that it didn't exactly rhyme. Rachel, in her turn, had been sure to start off for every class at least ten minutes earlier than really needed, just to make her own point. Between the two of them, they always made it just in time. It was the only tangible memory that Kenna had of her: rushing into class just in time, frustrated or panicked and with Teddy trailing behind her with a smirk. Why the two of them didn't just walk separately, she had never figured out.  
"Teddy, Teddy, never ready."  
Kenna gave a small smile as she mumbled the second half of the rhyme. Finally, Rachel emerged with a handful of chocolate frogs and Kenna raised an eyebrow.  
"You're bringing those to class?"  
Rachel's response was to toss a pair of peppermint quills at her friend, which were caught and wordlessly stuffed into her bag as the two hurried out of the door. As they dodged sleepy students, Kenna gave a slight sigh as she realized that her day was beginning with a double for first year Gryffindors and Slytherins, followed by second year Ravenclaws and Gryffindors.  
 _Fantastic._

* * *

A little hand waved from the first row of desks.  
"Professor?"  
"Yes, Gregory?"  
"Is your friend okay?"  
Kenna was stunned for a moment, then she smiled. "I'm not sure yet, Gregory. It will be a while until I know. Thank you for asking though."  
Face still pulled into a worried frown, he nodded and smiled. "I'll keep praying for him then."  
Blinking at the sudden wetness in her eyes, Kenna crossed to place a hand on his head. "Thank you, Gregory. That means so much to me."  
His expression shifted to a proud smile and he patted her hand before turning back to his assignment. Kenna turned away, trying to be subtle as she dried the few tears that escaped, and smiled as a warm feeling settled in her chest. Mentally, she apologized profusely to her students for her lack of faith - the day had been remarkably smooth. Scorpius and Rose hadn't even argued once as they'd completed their assignment and she could swear that Jenny was starting to fancy Albus. Now this. She wasn't going to get used to it - and, honestly, she wondered if it was just that word of her outburst had gotten around to the entire school - but no matter; she would enjoy it for today.

* * *

"Kenna."  
She glanced up to see the Herbology professor approaching. His smile, kind and slightly shy as always, managed to bring a genuine one to her face as well.  
"Hullo, Neville."  
"Why are you in here instead of enjoying the warm weather?"  
She glanced up, blinking in the sunlight she'd forgotten. "I guess I didn't think about it."  
He frowned a bit as he studied her, then began gathering up her books. "Well, this is maybe one of the last nice days of the term, so come on, you should be outside."  
Sighing, she ran her hand over her face and stifled a yawn before nodding. "You're probably right."  
As they began walking, he leaned closer and dropped his voice. "Harry's told me about Teddy. I know you're good friends - how are you holding up?"  
Keeping her eyes averted, she shrugged. "As well as I can be, I suppose, without knowing whether or not he's alive. I'm doing better than Rachel and Victoire."  
Neville nodded and reached over to squeeze her shoulder. As she smiled at him in thanks, they heard an airy sigh from around the next corner.  
"Professor Longbottom's totally dreamy, isn't he?"  
Feeling like Christmas had just come early, Kenna abruptly stopped, grinning so widely that it hurt as Neville turned completely red.  
"He's definitely the hottest professor here."  
Oh, how she _wished_ she could identify the voices. It was just on the edge of her mind, but her brain was too sluggish just now. Neville was pulling her back, but she stood her ground, raising her eyebrows questioningly as she exaggeratedly mimed stepping from behind the wall. Panic spread on his face until a boys' voice sounded.  
"I don't know, Professor Scott is pretty hot too."  
Her foot fell with a thud as Neville's panic was instantly replaced with a smug smile and then she was holding him back. Then came "Imagine if they got together."  
Both nearly leapt out from behind the wall, desperate for that particular conversation to never run its course, and Kenna attempted to keep her tone casual - although she suspected her face was more red than it had ever been - as she said the first thing that came into her mind.  
"We just _did_ de-gnome the greenhouses. "  
Horrible, really, considering that gnomes were rarely seen at Hogwarts, but Neville nodded along as if it made more sense than it really did. "I know, but some of them are back already. We'll need to do a better job this time."  
She sighed and managed a smile toward the five students sitting along the edge of the corridor, all of whom were bright red and avoiding their eyes. When they'd finally passed, a flurry of frantic whispers erupted behind them, and suddenly the entire thing was so hilarious that Kenna no longer felt awkward. Fighting to hold in her amusement, she sped up, hand clamped over her mouth until they turned another corner and ducked into her classroom. Then she dissolved into peals of laughter, Neville chuckling as well but more at the sight of the tears of mirth that soon streamed down her face. If she was going to cry, this was better than the alternative. When she was finally able to breathe again, she grinned at him and he shook his head.  
"I'm not going to be able to look at any of them in the same way now."  
Wiping her eyes, she snorted. "You and me both."

* * *

"I _know_ that we're not supposed to contact anyone. But honestly, how can they expect us to just - just _sit by_ with no news of Teddy or how everything is going? We are _part_ of the agency."  
Kenna didn't even bother opening her mouth; Rachel knew her well enough to mentally supply her responses.  
"Yes, I know that most of them don't know that, but still, the ones who _do_ could just - keep us informed!"  
Rachel had taken to pacing their common room every evening, probably wearing a groove in the floorboards by now. Kenna sat watching, exhausted by her own worry and unable to really focus on anything else. Rachel turned to look at her friend, who just shrugged. She knew that she agreed and there wasn't much more to say. With a huff of frustration, Rachel dropped next to Kenna, who lay her head on her shoulder and Rachel sighed as she lay her head on her friends'.  
"We could decide to leave Hogwarts and just become full-time Aurors."  
Rachel shrugged. "I can't imagine being anywhere other than Hogwarts, honestly."  
"Neither can I."  
"Guess we'll grow old here together then."  
Kenna gave a snort of laughter before handing her a chocolate frog. "Yeah, old and fat together."  
Rachel laughed as she opened the box and took a bite, glancing at the Dumbledore card before discarding it. "Yep." She sighed, "I just want to know _something_."  
"I know, me too. I'm sure Harry or Draco will let us know if we can be of help."  
"Yeah."  
They lapsed into silence, eventually abandoning the couch for their beds, where each lay awake with her own thoughts for hours.


	7. Couldn't Make it Up

_Bang._  
Rachel's head whipped around in time to see a fuming Slytherin aim his wand again at a heap of Gryffindor robes. The heap swore and writhed, proving to be a boy trying to get to his feet. But the Slytherin barked a spell, which sent the pile flying backward across the cobblestones toward several more boys, who began pulling out their wands. As Rachel was jolted out of her stupor and ran forward, a Hufflepuff girl grabbed onto the Slytherin's arm, trying to pull him back.  
"Collin! What are you doing?!"  
Her feet faltered as he turned and she saw the pure hatred in his eyes. His wand remained squarely aimed at the other boy. "He called Angel a - a bad name, Professor!"  
"I didn't call her anything."  
Trying to keep the coldness from her eyes, Kate turned to frown at the now standing Gryffindor. "What did you say to her then?"  
"They were pestering me. I told them to leave me alone."  
"That's not true! He -"  
"Collin, I am asking Bradley for his side of the story. You will get your turn in a moment."  
Rachel turned her eyes back to the larger boy, who she could see was pretending to not be intimidated by her. "Now, Bradley, tell me exactly what happened."  
"I was talking with my friends, just practicing our spells for Defence Against the Dark Arts, and they came up and interfered. So I told them to leave me alone."  
Collin was livid, almost ready to explode, when Rachel turned to him. "Collin?"  
"They were _practicing_ using Angel's cat as a target! Look! They hit him with a stunning spell!"  
He pointed to the far side of the courtyard, where there was indeed a limp cat slumped against the wall. Angel had tears in her eyes, and Rachel fought the urge to roll hers.  
"Detention, Bradley. And twenty points from Gryffindor. You will report to my office at the end of the day, and you are to not speak to either Collin or Angel unless it is for classwork or to sincerely apologize."  
For a moment, it looked like he would argue, but Rachel narrowed her eyes, and his mouth closed with a snap. She looked at the rest of his group. "And the same goes for all of you - detention and twenty points apiece. Next time think before you act."  
The group slumped away, but Collin was still fuming as he watched Angel rush back to her cat. Rachel lay a hand on his arm. "Collin?"  
He turned, eyes still flashing. "He called her a -" his voice lowered to a hiss, "a _Mudblood_ , Professor! Well, not to her face but he called her cat a Mudblood-pet and that's the same thing! Oh, I only wish I knew some real hexes and he wouldn't have walked away!"  
"Collin!"  
Rachel took his arm firmly, a bit alarmed by his fervour. "While I greatly admire your loyalty to Angel and your sense of morality, hexing Bradley into next week is certainly not the answer."  
"He deserves it - he's awful!"  
Rachel studied him, fighting the urge to chuckle as she voiced a thought she'd had for a while. "Truthfully, Collin, I suspect that the two of you actually have more in common than you realize."  
His temper flared again. "With _him_?! Professor, that's impossible! He's such a git!"  
"Collin. I'll remind you that you attacked him for calling your friend a name. Kindly hold yourself to the same standard."  
The snap in her voice finally mellowed him out, and he nodded. "Thank you for helping, Professor. I'm going to help Angel take Gaius down to see Professor Finey."  
"Go on then. And Collin," he turned back and Rachel frowned, "if you have any more problems with Bradley, you come to me, don't deal with him yourself please."  
His forehead puckered a bit, but he nodded again. "Yes, Professor.  
Rachel sighed as she watched them go, fighting the urge to laugh as she muttered to herself. "I couldn't make it up."

* * *

A first year, small even for her young age, shuffled up to Kenna's desk, eyes squinting at the ceiling in an effort to remember her message properly.  
"Professor Longbottom says, Miss, would you please let him know if you need that book for next week's lesson because if you do, he needs to find it."  
"Ah, right, thank you, Roma."  
Jotting down a quick note, she folded the parchment and turned to the rest of the class as the last of them sat down.  
"Gryffindor, what do you have next?"  
"Herbology, Professor."  
She nodded and studied the class before handing the parchment to one of the girls a few rows back.  
"Jemima, please give this to Professor Longbottom."  
She nodded eagerly, happy to be entrusted with such an important task.  
"Yes, Professor, I will."  
"Thank you. All right, class, today we will be learning about the different classes of Transfiguration. Please turn in your books to page 287."

* * *

It was a remarkably eventless day - no explosions or angry creatures and the only bickering was between Scorpius and Rose, which Kenna steadfastly ignored. Still, by dinner, she hurried to the Great Hall, arriving early she was so hungry. A few moments latet, Neville dropped into the seat beside her, looking vaguely annoyed.  
"Did'ya need to do that? Jemima rushed right in all out of breath while my fifth-years were still there asking about NEWTs, including Georgie and Partha. I needed to keep a straight face while they dissolved into giggles."  
she flushed a bit, but shook off the embarrassment and instead just grinned.  
"Sorry, I didn't think of that. You sure you want to sit next to me?"  
He rolled his eyes before looking out over the students trickling in. Sure enough, several pairs of eyes darted away from the pair of them. Kenna just grinned as he grunted. "Too late now."  
"We're going to be the talk of the school soon."  
"Wonderful."  
"You sure know how to make a girl feel special, Neville."  
He choked, pumpkin juice spraying everywhere as she doubled over in laughter.

* * *

"It's just kind of unfair that, instead of them being annoyed with Bradley and his little gang, they're annoyed with me. I didn't try to hex someone's cat."  
Kenna chuckled as she pushed open the door. "You're expecting the students to be rational about house points?"  
Rachel sighed as she dropped her bag onto the table. "All right, fine, I suppose that's expecting a bit too much."  
"Gryffindor did take quite a dip."  
"Well, next time, maybe one of the _six_ of them - or even a bystander - will actually show some common sense. Ugh."  
She threw herself onto the couch, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I know that this is not actually the case, but I feel like nothing we're doing here matters right now."  
"I know. Just - give it 'til the weekend and we'll go visit the Potters. At the very least, Ginny's bound to have an idea of what's happening, and we can check in on Victoire."  
Rachel huffed, but opened her eyes again to watch her friend fiddling with something just inside the door to her room. "What are you doing?"  
Kenna grinned before hefting something from the ground onto the coffee table. Rachel blinked. "What's that?"  
Her friend pointed her wand at the clunky box, which immediately whirred to life, and Rachel sat up as Kenna gave an exaggerated flourish. "Ta-da! I present, our new tele."  
"What?" Rachel studied the contraption sceptically. "Teles don't work at Hogwarts."  
"Well, I've been working on this for a while and I've got it working nearly all the time now. It was going to be your Christmas gift, but - well, who knows where we'll be at Christmas and I think we could use it now."  
Excited, Kate jumped up for a closer look. "No way, this is amazing!"  
Kenna grinned, tapping a button on the side, and the screen suddenly burst into full colour to cheers from both girls, who curled up on the couch, ready to forget their troubles for a few hours.

* * *

Author's Note: All right, fifty points for this reference as it's kind of subtle. Did anyone spot it?


	8. Billywigs & Bubbles

Kenna stretched her neck, wincing. They had fallen asleep on the couch to the tele. Normally, neither of them would have been able to, but they were both so emotionally worn out that they'd surprisingly slept right through the night, waking a full season later in their favourite series than they'd fallen asleep to. Rachel yawned, but smiled.  
"I feel great, shockingly."  
Kenna just nodded, still rubbing her neck. "Want to go walk around the lake?"  
"I've got to meet with Thomas this morning. He's got a lot of questions and couldn't meet during the week."  
"I thought this was a Hogsmede weekend."  
"It is - he's staying back."  
Wrinkling her nose, Kenna reached for the tea kettle. "Must be doing pretty poorly."  
"Not really. I think he's just nervous for his OWLs."  
Once Rachel had gone, Kenna decided she would walk anyway and grabbed her cloak, happy for the chill in the air. With most of the older students gone to Hogsmede and the younger ones not wanting to be out in the colder weather, it felt as if she had the grounds almost to herself, and she greatly enjoyed it. For a while, she just sat by the edge of the lake, not thinking of anything in particular, until she heard someone hurrying through the fallen leaves from the path around it. Matthias came into sight - making Kenna's heartbeat lurch a bit - then to an abrupt stop, eyes widening momentarily before pasting on a too-wide smile that said he was trying very hard to look composed. That made her nervous.  
"Hey, Kenna, how are you?"  
She smiled, but narrowed her eyes.  
"Hullo, Matthias. I'm just fine. Do I want to ask why you look so on-edge?"  
His laugh was higher than normal. "I'm not on-edge."  
After a moment's more study, she rolled her eyes and caught his arm, dragging him along as they headed toward the castle.  
"What's happened?"  
He gave another false laugh, but she sped up, fingers digging into his arm and voice lowering to a hiss.  
"Stop acting stupid. What got out?"  
"Ow, Kenna! I - what makes you -"  
"Matthias!"  
His façade fell as they reached the lawn and he looked around for students before speeding so that he was now pulling her.  
"All right. If you must know, my - my Billywigs got out."  
Kenna's heart lurched in panic this time, and her voice rose almost to an inaudible pitch as she dropped his arm and stopped.  
"You have _Billywigs_?!"  
He paused just long enough to grip her hand so that he could continue towing her along and she was happy that his back was turned so he couldn't see the blood rush to her cheeks.  
"Well I did have… I've been - er - saving them - as a surprise for the sixth years."  
"How did you even get those?! Never mind - how are we supposed to find them? Just wait until students start floating above the castle?!"  
"Well it would be nice to find them before that."  
Glaring at his back, she took a deep breath before quickening her pace to match his.  
"All right, here's what we'll do. I'm going to get Rachel and Neville and a couple broomsticks. That way we'll be prepared to - retrieve - any students while we look for them. You get Hagrid. How many did you have?"  
"How many?" He shrugged distractedly, hurrying around a clump of students as she spared a moment to be grateful that none of them seemed to notice their entwined hands, "I dunno - maybe fifteen."  
She'd thought she couldn't get more panicked, bubut she'd been wrong.  
" _Fifteen_?! You have _fifteen_ Billywigs that you let escape?!"  
Now that his panic had been completely transferred to her, he was much more composed.  
"Well obviously I didn't _let_ them escape."  
"Well you did _something_ because they were _your_ pets and now they're loose on the grounds. And you aren't even really sure how many you have - what if we find fifteen and there are still two more or if there are only thirteen and we're on edge about the two that don't exist for the rest of the year?"  
"Hey, I didn't say that I'm not sure."  
"You just said 'I dunno - _maybe_ fifteen."  
"Yeah, well - okay, so maybe I'm not _exactly_ sure. But I'm close to sure."  
"You - you - even one" She was hissing again, "could cause major problems around the school. What if someone has an allergic reaction? Then they're stuck floating. _Permanently_. You don't have anything else that I should know about, do you - a flock of unsilenced Fwoopers, maybe, or a Quintaped? Ah, you're as bad as Hagrid!"  
"Oh calm down."  
Kenna huffed in exasperation and pulled her hand out of his to point him back down the hill.  
"We need to get started then. I'm going to get Rachel and Neville. I'll meet you by Hagrid's hut."  
As she hurried to Rachel's classroom, her eyes darted around so much that she kept tripping, nearly landing on her face several times. But she saw no flashes of blue. She only just remembered to slow her pace and wipe the panic from her face as she heard students' voices, walking as quickly as possible the rest of the way. She glanced up as Kenna burst in and worry immediately spread across her face. Kenna shook her head as she attempted to catch her breath, knowing that Rachel's first thought was Teddy.  
"Matthias' Billywigs got out."  
The worry melted into exasperation. "Oh, _honestly_. I really don't know why you like him. He's constantly getting into trouble."  
Kenna blinked, stupidly trying to come up with something as Rachel began rummaging in her desk.  
"I - he's - nice to me."  
"And cute."  
She rolled her eyes at her friend's dry tone.  
"Are you going to help or not?"  
But she was already tossing things at Kenna, who blinked. "What are these?"  
"Weights, in case we need to keep students from floating away."  
"Ah. Hey, ow! Why are you throwing them at me?!"  
Rachel straightened, holding several weights herself and adding Kenna's to a bag that she swung onto her back. Kenna narrowed her eyes. "Also, why do you have those?"  
"Apparently they're from last Christmas when Rupert enchanted the rugs to float when someone stepped on them - it worked a bit too well and Cirinse had to fly into the roof to get them back down."  
Kenna trailed behind her friend as they hurried out of the room. "Nope, definitely couldn't have predicted that backfiring. And they were in your desk because -"  
"Rupert said he was out of storage and Professor Bins didn't use his desk. I've been meaning to get rid of them."  
"Happy you didn't. This way," Kenna turned abruptly down a corridor, "I figured Neville could help."  
"You pull him in every time we're involved in something stupid."  
"He likes me."  
"He's amused by you."  
Kenna sniffed haughtily as she knocked on the door to his rooms. "I will take that."  
When Neville pulled open the door, his face did split into a grin at the sight of the pair. "What's happened?"  
Rachel snorted and Kenna glared at her as she cleared her throat. "Matthias asked us to help with a - well, you see -"  
"Matthias brought Billywigs into the school and let them loose."  
"He didn't _let_ -"  
"Don't even try."  
Kenna rolled her eyes and Neville, whose eyes had widened for a moment, now chuckled as he grabbed his cloak. "I've got some grevillea in the greenhouses."  
"Great, we're going to get our broomsticks."  
Neville nodded and split from them as they reached the bottom of the stairs.  
"What's grevillea do?"  
Kenna shook her head. "No idea."  
The two quickly collected brooms and some rope from Kenna's collection of Quidditch supplies, then hurried toward the greenhouses. Neville appeared, holding a large handful of sprigs with curly red flowers, which Kenna poked at. "What do those do?"  
Neville batted her hand away and tucked the flowers into his satchel. "It's a Muggle plant native to Australia, used to attract birds. I grow it by my bird feeders. I figure it might attract Billywigs too."  
When the laden crew arrived at Hagrid's hut, it was to find him and Matthias buzzing around some contraption on the ground, Hagrid's old boar-hound Fang watching dozily from a patch of sun.  
"Oh good grief, what the bloody hell is that?"  
Kenna glared at Rachel. "You didn't need to come help."  
Neville was fighting back laughter at the two girls' muttering, knowing that Rachel really thought the entire situation was hilarious and Kenna knew it. Hagrid looked up and grinned at them, predictably in his element trying to find potentially dangerous creatures loose on the grounds.  
"Hullo, you three. Nice weather, i'n'it?  
Neville smiled warmly and hugged Hagrid. "Hi Hagrid, it is nice. What's this?"  
Hagrid rubbed his hands excitedly. "Well, y'see, in case the Billywigs sting anyone, you can fly them over here and we can tether them to this."  
Kenna and Rachel grinned, but Rachel felt she needed to point out the flaw. "That's great, but do we have ideas about how to catch the Billywigs? Ideally we're going to catch them all before they have the chance to sting anyone, right?"  
Both Hagrid and Matthias looked slightly put out, the latter actually frowning. "Well, I suppose, yeah."  
"Okay, so how do we do that?"  
Everyone's heads turned to Kenna and she looked back and forth before frowning. "Hey, why are you all looking at me?" She pointed an accusing finger at Hagrid and Matthias, "This is technically more in your arena."  
"Come on, you spent three years with Edmund and the Beast Division and you have no ideas? How did you usually handle Billywigs?"  
She glared at Matthias. " _Usually_ people are more careful with Billywigs."  
He flushed, Rachel snorted, and Kenna relented. "Okay, let me think. Um, we never caught Billywigs but we did need to go after some Doxies once and we used a high-pitched whistle that drove them so crazy they all came to try and stop it. Also, I believe that Billywigs are close enough to most non-magical insects that we could use something sweet or even a light to attract them, like a bug-zapper."  
Judging from the horrified expressions on the faces of Hagrid and Matthias, this last option wasn't very popular.  
"We don't actually need to kill them."  
Neville nodded firmly. "All right, so we spread out, maybe try the whistle first and lure them back here."  
"There's a cage, right?"  
Matthias nodded to a large, double-walled cage and Neville spread the flowers on the bottom before they all pulled out their wands. Several minutes and five pairs of ringing ears later, all of their wands were producing a shrill sound that sent Fang scurrying back into the cabin. All save Hagrid mounted brooms and kicked off, splitting into different directions. As Rachel arched high over the astronomy tower, she sighed in contentment. She loved being so high.  
I really don't do this enough.  
Suddenly, she saw a flash of blue and her stomach dropped. Somehow she hadn't fully thought through the fact that they were effectively bait for the same creatures who they were worried about stinging the students. Leaning flat against her broom and clenching her fist around her wand, she sped up. There! There was definitely something small and blue following her. And she was pretty sure that it was gaining. She made a wide turn, heading back toward Hagrid and the cage. Kenna appeared in her periphery, so tight to her broom handle that she was going almost twice as fast as Rachel. Then she turned abruptly upward into a steep climb, little flashes of blue hard on her tail. Rachel almost turned, worried that something was wrong, but as Kenna veered sharply again she realized that she was just letting her group of Billywigs chase her like bludgers from her Quidditch days.  
 _She's giving me time so that we don't both come in at once._  
Rachel sped up further, landing in a skid right beside the cage and sticking her wand through the slits alongside Hagrid's. The Billywigs flew neatly in and Rachel barely had time for a relieved breath before Neville came speeding in to land beside her. Several more of the creatures joined the first group and several more again as Matthias landed, tripping over his feet and scrambling back just in time to not be stung. Finally, Kenna came streaking in so low that they all needed to duck, cutting off the whistle from her wand at the last moment so that the Billywigs dove sharply into the cage as their attention focussed to the new wands. Matthias slammed the latch shut and hurriedly began counting. Kenna rose again, doing several more loops and a complicated dive before she levelled off and flipped lightly to the ground, catching her broomstick as it flew past. Rachel grunted.  
"Show off."  
Kenna grinned at her friend, who couldn't help laughing at the dishevelled mess that her hair had become and the pure happiness on her face. While Rachel loved flying, there was almost nothing that Kenna loved more.  
"- fourteen, fifteen. Good, that's all of them."  
"You're absolutely sure?"  
Matthias nodded, looking at Hagrid, who nodded as well. "Fifteen, tha's all that we - uh - ordered."  
Kenna nodded, resisting the urge to ask where exactly they'd 'ordered' them from. She squinted in at the now angry collection of Billywigs. "That went a lot smoother than I expected, to be honest."  
Matthias sighed deeply and leaned back against the wall. "Thank you so much, everyone." They all nodded, sitting silently for a long moment until he straightened. "I've got it from here."  
He pointed his wand at the cage and all of them tensed.  
"Oh no you don't."  
Kenna ignored Rachel's smirk and raised eyebrows as she nudged him to the side so she could take one of the handles. "I'll just help you carry them back up. The last thing we need is for you to accidentally drop it and they get out again."  
Matthias blinked at her before smiling sheepishly. "Thanks."  
Compared to the rest of their day, getting the large cage back to Matthias' classroom was easy. After they eased it onto a table in the back room, he let out a long breath as he stared at the cage.  
"Thanks for helping me."  
She chuckled.  
"Well, I couldn't exactly leave you to shift for yourself this time. Who'd have thought that the years working with my brother would come in useful at Hogwarts."  
Turning, he took her hand, startling her so much that she took half a step back before realizing it.  
"No, I mean it - I'm so grateful that you always help me out of scrapes."  
She met his eyes and smiled through the sudden feeling that her stomach had vertigo.  
"Of course."  
For a moment, they stood, eyes locked just inches from one another. But he just squeezed her hand and released it with a smile, and she felt a flash of irritation that was common when dealing with him. Rolling her eyes, she picked up her cloak.  
"Just don't let anything else out, yeah?"  
Perhaps it was a bit harsher than she intended, because he turned again with a look of surprise as she made her way out.  
"I'll do my best."  
Smiling tightly, she gave a wave and closed the door behind her. She stalked through the corridors, speeding up as she heard the sounds of students returning from Hogsmede and managing to make it back to her rooms without running into any of them. Rachel had clearly gone to dinner already, but Kenna didn't feel like it so she pulled out a stack of essays and curled up on her bed to grade until the door opened and her friend appeared cautiously in her doorway. "Hey."  
"Hi."  
"You all right?"  
"Fine." Immediately regretting her sharp tone, Kenna sighed and looked up, "I'm sorry. Just - Matthias."  
Rachel gave her a sympathetic smile and handing her a pasty. "I thought you might be hungry."  
Kenna's stomach grumbled, bringing a grin even to her face, and she reached for it. "Thanks. I just didn't want -"  
"I get it. Need anything else?"  
"No, thanks, this is great. I'm getting a lot done so that's good."  
Rachel squeezed her shoulder before retreating back to the common room. Kenna bit into the pasty and turned back to the essays. After about half-an-hour more, however, she began to become irritated by the lack of effort from some students. Finally, she finished and almost threw the rolls of parchment to the side. Glowering, she grabbed a bag and her cloak, Rachel glancing up from the couch as she stomped out of her room.  
"I'm going to lock myself in the Prefects' bath."  
"What?"  
"Prefect's bath, on the sixth floor. I'll be back."  
Whatever her friend said in reply, Kenna didn't hear it as the door was already closed behind her. Walking so quickly that soon her legs burned, she stalked through the halls and up the stairs until she reached the sixth floor.  
"Snarfalump."  
She resisted throwing the door open hard enough to make noise, although it would have been very satisfying to hear the crash echoing through the empty corridors. As she rounded the corner and began making sure that no students were there in the middle of the night, the mermaid looked up from brushing her hair and her eyes widened. Clearly, she remembered Kenna from her years as a Prefect.  
"Obscuro."  
The mermaid shrieked angrily at her as a dark sheet fluttered over the glass pane, but Kenna just pointed her wand again.  
"Muffalato."  
And the shrieks were suddenly cut off.  
"I'm not in the mood for you right now."  
It had always annoyed Kenna that, since all the decorations in the magical world at least seemed to be alive, anything with eyes was put in the baths. Perhaps those raised in the magical world didn't' find it strange, but she certainly did. Honestly - even Peeves avoided the lavatories, and there were very few lines that he didn't cross. After locking the door, she slipped out of her clothes and into the pool-sized bath. She fiddled with a few of the taps, finally filling the bath with warm water and bubbles that looked like pirate and naval ships, complete with canons that would fire tiny bubbles when the other side got too close. For a while, she just sat, nudging the boats into confrontations with each other. There was a trick to it that she'd mastered years back, using one hand just under the surface to create tiny waves that would move but not pop them. Or she sent larger waves crashing through the fleets, replenishing the supply of ships when they'd all been swept under and popped. It was wonderfully distracting. Soon, however, the water began to cool and she realized that she couldn't spend all night in the bath. Washing quickly, she conjured a warm breeze as she stepped out and combed her hair. After dressing, she waved her wand at the black sheet, which vanished and revealed the mermaid. Immediately straightening from her rock, she began yelling silently again and making very rude gestures now that she could be seen. Kenna scowled and let her voice become a viscous hiss.  
"If you don't stop screaming, I'll just leave you like this."  
Although still glaring daggers, she did stop, and Kenna waved her wand again before ducking quickly out. She took a long route back to her rooms, enjoying the vast emptiness of the corridors. Rachel was asleep when she got back, or at least pretending, and Kenna quietly locked the door and snuck into her room. As she lay down, she realized she felt much better and was able to relax without any thought of Matthias at all.


	9. Wasn't My Fault

"Miiiss?"  
Rachel managed to keep from laughing as she turned to face the fifth year whose face was scrunched in confusion.  
"Yes, Mira?"  
"I thought Merlin was the greatest sorcerer in all of history. How could he be so - clumsy - and silly?"  
"Well just because someone has a hero's reputation doesn't mean that they aren't real people too. You've all had Harry Potter as a guest professor before - I'm sure some of you were surprised by how normal he is, after all the stories we've heard about him."  
There was a collective chuckle and Rachel grinned. "Also, keep in mind that this was written while magic was still outlawed and by someone who didn't know that he had magic, so he was constantly needing to make excuses to cover up the strange things that seemed to happen around him. When someone has a secret like that, it's better for everyone to underestimate him."  
Mira smiled and nodded and Rachel continued reading. She couldn't help feeling a kind of kinship with the young sorcerer who protected everyone while remaining in the shadows. Her favourite account was the one written by the physician, Gaius, who had taken Merlin under his wing when the lost young warlock arrived in Camelot. Gaius' writing was funny and candid and heartbreaking, telling not only of the accident-prone servant but also of the budding sorcerer who cared deeply for those around him, and in particular for the King, his friend and brother. It was also the only account that really captured Merlin's frustration at deceiving his friends, something that Rachel was intimately familiar with. When the lesson ended and the students filed out, she switched the book she'd been reading for Gaius' and went out into the courtyard. She ignored the students passing until a lingering figure in the corner of her eye caught her attention. The girl looked decidedly edgy and Rachel adjusted her hands so that she could be pretending to read while she watched. After glancing covertly around, the girl ducked through the archway and down the hallway. Rachel sat staring after her for several seconds. _Do I really want to know?_  
But everything was making her jumpy right now and she knew she'd have no peace if she didn't look into it, so, sighing, she closed her book and followed her. Peering around the edge of the archway, she saw the girl disappear around a corner with one last glance over her shoulder. Rachel walked as quickly as she could without making noise.  
 _It's probably nothing._  
But when she rounded the corner, the girl had disappeared, and Rachel's stomach churned a bit, her natural paranoia only heightened by the past few weeks. Then she heard a giggle and suddenly all she felt was irritation as she strode forward, a wave of her wand sending a tapestry flying up and the couple skidding away from one another. _What the hell am I doing here?_  
"Come on, get out of here."  
They bolted, and Rachel watched them go with dark satisfaction that still didn't really make her feel any better.

* * *

Kenna lay on her back on the floor, watching the little silver shapes float above her head and flicking her wand to make them change. The door squeaked slightly as it opened, admitting Rachel, who looked frustrated. She dropped onto the couch with a huff, watching for a moment while turtles turned into airships and then to hippogriffs. Then Kenna waved her wand one last time and the hippogriffs disappeared. She rolled onto her side to face her friend.  
"What happened?"  
She scowled and gave a low grunt. Kenna raised an eyebrow. Pushing herself up again, Rachel began to pace the room, her wand clutched unknowingly in her hand.  
"I sent an owl to Malfoy, asking if they'd heard anything. All I got back was two lines from Charles: "No news. He'll be in touch." Really, that's all we get?! Teddy's out there _in danger_ and we're here stuck on - on snog patrol!"  
Nervously, Kenna watched her friend's wand, which had begun to shoot out sparks, and she snagged it from her hand as she passed again. Rachel didn't even notice.  
"I need answers. And if no one can figure them out or isn't going to give them to me, I'm going to find them myself."  
Kenna studied her friend, who'd stopped and met her eyes. And under the frustration she saw the determination, and knew that her friend wasn't just ranting anymore. And so she nodded.  
"I'll follow you."  
Rachel bit her lip, then nodded firmly. "Okay."  
Kenna nodded in return. "What do we need to do?"  
"Um -" Blinking a few times, Rachel clasped her hands behind her back and began to pace. "Okay. First thing is to get supplies. We're going to need to be undercover, even deeper than we have been. Even the Ministry can't know where we are. We've got five weeks until term's end so we'll leave then."  
She met Kenna's eyes, but all the other girl did was nod. She looked almost relaxed, and Rachel realized that she'd been expecting this, probably since the moment Teddy went missing. She'd known that one of them would crack and they'd need to be prepared to leave. In fact-  
"You've already started, haven't you?"  
Wordlessly, Kenna rose and went into her room, reappearing with a bag and dumping the contents onto the table. Rachel surveyed them and felt the knot of tension in her chest loosen just slightly. She grinned at her friend who returned it, then gripped her shoulder.  
"We're going to find him, Rach. We can do it."  
"I know. Five weeks."  
"Five weeks."

* * *

"Are you sure that's all we need?"  
The two friends stood surveying their supplies again, as they'd done every night in the past week. It was helpful to have something to focus on, but it had only taken two days to gather the rest of everything they thought they'd need. And in the last three nights, they'd nearly finished their plan. They really ought to space things out a bit, they knew, or the last four weeks they'd have nothing to focus their nervous energy on, but they couldn't help it.  
"I mean, there's a lot we could need. We could use an undetectable extension charm and bring everything we can think of."  
Rachel chewed her lip. "That might be overkill."  
"On the other hand, it would make it easier to carry, because it would be small, and we would be less likely to end up wishing we had something."  
"Okay, might as well, I guess."  
It was a mark of how much they were throwing out the rules that either was even strongly considering this. Both knew the spell, of course, but it was so highly regulated that it was only really worth chancing in the most dire of circumstances. Still, it made sense and was going to make their trip considerably easier. They ended up performing the spell twice, so that on the slim chance they were separated, at least both had supplies. They stayed up far too late that night, climbing into the now spacious storage rooms and organizing anything they might possibly need. Around midnight, Rachel stuck her head through the top of Kenna's bag to find her sorting through stacks of books.  
"I need to go to bed."  
She paused, surveying the room. "You know we're not going on the run, right? It's not like we'll need - are those your dress robes?"  
Kenna looked back to the trunk she was packing, wilting a bit. "Well, what if we need to sneak into somewhere fancy?"  
"Good point, I'll pack mine too. Then I'm going to bed."  
"Okay, g'night."  
"'Night."  
Kenna kept packing, long past the point where she should have gone to sleep. Eventually though, she dragged herself out of the extended room, plodding to the shower and finally into bed where she fell asleep almost as soon as she collapsed.

* * *

Rachel shook her awake the next morning, knowing that her roommate probably stayed awake far later than she ought to and wouldn't wake easily. She was definitely grumpy, and Rachel needed to fight to suppress a laugh at how rumpled she looked.  
"Sleep well?"  
Kenna glowered. "No."  
"Sorry."  
Rachel chuckled sympathetically and Kenna groaned, burying her face back in her pillow. "Don' wanna."  
"I'll put the kettle on."  
Kenna groaned again, but a few minutes later she plodded into the kitchen to take the mug from her friend and sit at the table, eyes glazed over. After about ten minutes, Rachel rolled her eyes and dumped part of an invigoration draught into her friend's tea - she didn't even notice until after a few sips more. Then she blinked and straightened. "We're going to get addicted."  
"Five more weeks."  
Kenna snorted, but she heard the unspoken thought. _We just need to make it until then._

* * *

"But I wasn't even holding my wand this time, Miss!"  
Kenna didn't answer, all her attention focussed on the large crab that had scuttled down from Will's desk and was now dodging shrieking students. She couldn't hit it for fear of hitting a student instead, so finally she rushed forward and tackled it. She hissed as it pinched her, then quickly pointed her wand. "Stupefy!"  
It skidded away from her, then lay still, and she sat up, holding her arm and trying to regather her dignity as she pointed her wand at the crab again, turning it back into a pencil. Picking it up, she lay it deliberately on Will's desk. He just looked up at her pleadingly. "But Professor, I wasn't even holding my _wand_! Can't've been me! Wasn't _my_ fault."  
Kenna sighed deeply before looking around. "Is everyone all right? Did it pinch anyone? Will?"  
All heads shook no as the class picked up fallen pencils and books and returned to their seats. She nodded, then crossed her arms and leaned against her desk, narrowing her eyes as she surveyed them. "Now, who thought it would be funny to change Will's pencil into a crab?"  
"Still could'a been him!"  
"Yeah, Miss, Professor Price, she said that people didn' used to use wands for magic."  
"Did'ja know, Miss, that Merlin never had a wand 'til he was a old man?"  
"He was singin' _Under the Sea_."  
She looked at Hanna, stunned into silence as Will turned to her. "I was! I was pretending to be Sebastian."  
"What's _Under the Sea_?"  
"A Muggle -"  
"Oookay."  
Kenna gave a long sigh, then pinched the bridge of her nose. "You know what, I think that's enough practice for today. Go ahead and use the rest of the class to start on your essays."  
There were still confused mutters as they started, but Kenna chose to ignore as Emily began to summarize _The Little Mermaid_ and used the distraction to study her arm. The crab's claw had been sharp and cut into her arm, leaving a bloody gash. She could only manage a vague annoyance as she bound it up and pulled her cloak closed to hide it. When the class finally ended, she hurried to the hospital wing.  
"It wasn't _my_ fault." Blurted Kenna, feeling like a first-year under Madam Pomfrey's stern gaze. Then she cleared her throat and composed herself. "A student transfigured another student's pencil into a big crab and it pinched me."  
Madame Pomfrey huffed, then gestured for Kenna to take a seat as she bustled away. Returning with a salve and some bandages, she clicked her tongue. "Which student made it?"  
"I dunno. 'Twas Will Tailor's pencil that transformed and I'm used to spells like that from him, but he wasn't even holding his wand. Some of the other students said that magic used to be done without wands so maybe it was still him. And he was singing that song to himself…" She winced as Madame Pomfrey spread the salve on her hand, then sighed deeply and rubbed her face with her uninjured hand, talking more to herself at this point. "I'll just need to ask more questions until someone confesses. I don't want anyone getting hurt next time."  
Madame Pomfrey finished binding her arm and patted it.  
"They're right, you know, wands weren't always used. Once upon a time, most spells were channelled only through a sorcerer's body, and they could be again. A wand is really just a focusing tool. Go on now, you're all done."  
Kenna chewed her lip, drawn into thought. Thanking Madame Pomfrey absently, she walked slowly out the door and paused a moment before turning abruptly and hurrying to her rooms.

* * *

Rachel pushed open the door and surveyed the scene she found: her roommate, hand stretched out in front of her toward a wastebasket full of smoking wads of paper. She let the door fall closed.  
"What are you doing?"  
Kenna jumped and spun, then huffed at her friend. "Don't surprise me!"  
"Okay, sorry. What are you doing?"  
Kenna looked away again, and Rachel knew her well enough to tell that she was embarrassed.  
"Working on spells without a wand."  
"Why are you embarrassed by that?"  
"I'm not -"  
Rachel raised an eyebrow and her friend grinned.  
"Okay, a bit, I suppose."  
She shrugged and picked up her wand again, turning it in her hands.  
"I suppose I'm just self-conscious because, if you have a wand, why do you need to go without one? It doesn't really make sense."  
"Because in our line of work it's not a guarantee that you'll always have your wand. I think it's a great idea - maybe I'll learn it too."  
Kenna smiled eagerly. "Oh, well in that case here, I've been studying. I've borrowed your books, didn't think you'd mind."  
She pointed to a stack of old books and parchment rolls and Rachel chuckled as Kenna spread her fingers in front of her. "Here, watch this."  
She took a deep breath, pulling the magic inside her to a focused point, before muttering "Forbearnan."  
Her eyes flashed gold and the wads of paper burst into flames. Rachel yelped and jumped back, but Kenna just laughed as she shot a jet of water from her wand.  
"I haven't learned how to do that without my wand yet."  
"Well, it's non-verbal at least."  
Rachel dropped onto the couch, smiling contentedly at the creak of leather as she opened one of the old books. Kenna grinned and turned back to practicing.


End file.
